Things are getting better

yeah his mark up is insane, sad to say since im not far from there. Was at the LGS today though and they had lots of ammo but were still short on 9, 223, and 22lr. $ bushmasters sitting there for 800 plus tax though. Was a welcomed sight IMO. Im sure there are many people sitting on 3k+ AR-15's realizing their foolishness

kyhunter: Quite true.
Many AR owners might soon start a price discount war. There will be lots of people probably unable to sell their overpriced ARs for more than they spent.
Many will be forced to sell at a loss, unless they can afford to keep the cash invested long-term, to sell during the Next panic.

This is why I took my Yugo Mauser 48A off the market tonight. With 2,000 rds. of ammo (.35/round), why not learn to use the gun, even with inferior sights that I don't care for?

This panic has changed my perspective (no pun) permanently on both Mauser sights and common MN rifles (rifle/ammo prices).

Everyone switched the panic from guns to ammo.

Ah, makes me long for the days less than a week after Sandy Hook when I paid $1,200 for my AR which had not yet been marked up at a local sporting goods chain store.

Firearms are easy to restock. Ammo on the otherhand is not and may not catch up to demand for years since its consumed during the process of firing the weapon.

I agree that the ammo will take a bit longer. But with a lot of owners with new firearms, this will be a short trend. Initially they will have a narrow focus on shooting there new rifle/pistol, but after that initial interest is fulfilled the rifle/pistol will find it's home in its case, locker, safe, exc. and ammo won't move so quickly.

This is the classic which came first first question; The Chicken or The Egg?

Why purchase a firearm as long as ammo for it is unavailable for a undetermined amount of time that may well extent into next year?

I saw EBR's at Bass Pro - no ammo though - just 17 HMR.

Sportsman's Guide Just filled my back order for 1000 7.62x39 placed the first weekend of December, and honored the pre-panic price of $220/1000.

220 is not bad for 762x39 compared to now... i passed on a bunch thinking that was expensive a while ago...

Local Pawn/Gun shop that I frequent, has pretty much sold out every long gun he had in stock. Thing was he never jumped out and marked them up 300%, ammo is still hard for him to acquire and he is selling ammo only when someone makes a purchase of firearm or to regular customers that he has known for a long time.
Maybe things will get somewhat normal soon.

BSA1 said:

This is the classic which came first first question; The Chicken or The Egg?

Why purchase a firearm as long as ammo for it is unavailable for a undetermined amount of time that may well extent into next year?

Click to expand...

The only cheap & widely available rifle ammo for AK-pattern rifles nowadays is 5.45. I've been stocking up on it in anticipation of purchasing an AK-74. I'll just put the AK-47 (7.62) and AKS-84 (.223) on the shelf for a while until the ammo price / availability situation changes. The 5.45 is so cheap that it pays for the gun in about 2,000 rounds, depending on how dear the other ammo prices are that day.

Now I'm biding my time, watching the prices of the AK-74 rifles slowly drop back to earth. I'm in no rush. Stocking up on ammo is my priority; I see no gun shortage in the near future, despite Biden's latest volley about how he's going to keep pushing for bans. Ammo is and will continue to be the choke point IMO.

Here's something odd. 12 GA buckshot generally costs 3-4 times as much as 12 GA birdshot of the same weight, but .410 is the opposite. Clearly that's a supply / demand issue for a certain configuration, as the amount of raw materials and manufacturing costs are the same. I'm just buying up what's cheap, building up stock, as I don't expect the ammo situation to improve much any time soon.

I also ordered a Ruger .22 pistol because I can buy ammo for about 6 cents per round, which is 1/6th the price of .38 SPL. Again, the savings on ammo pays for the gun, and the gun is wonderful to plink with, so why not?

I agree that things are improving. I visited two shops this week. I was able to get some reloading supplies at one (they still had limits and shortages but the shelves weren't bare like they were a month ago). It also had several Ruger 556's. The second shop had a rack full, each, of Sig AR style, Sig in 7.62 X 39, and Windham Weaponry. This shop is just getting established in reloading equipment. It had lots of Speer bullets on hand but the Sierra's and Hornady's were hit and miss, mostly miss. Again, this is better than a month ago.

Keep on keeping on!

Dan

Things are definitely getting better here, by the day even. Picked up 2 100 rd packs of Mini Mags for $8.99 each and 150 rds of .45 ACP for ~$70 today. First time I've seen .22 for a month.

Shipments are apparently starting to trickle out. Bought a pack of hornady .224 55 gr. fmj's online yesterday, and last night picked up 1k small rifle primers and 200 Sierra .224 55gr. Hp's at Walmart. There were jugs of imr powder on the shelves for the first time in months, and hornady bullets too.

No joy in my area, everything is still tight.

Found .223rem (Herters steel case) and .22LR (CCI) for the second time in the past week at Cabelas in Scarborough, ME.

In southern Florida, when it comes to ammo, things R not getting better.

Austin TX is still pretty hard hit for the common calibers. 223Rem, 308Win, 9mm, 45Acp, 357mag, 380Acp and of corse 22LR all are rationed when avalibel. Local acadamy you have to get them from the customer service desk, one box limit.

WB

I've seen quite a few AR lowers for sale locally and online. That's a start. Still can't find any uppers though.

In parts of FL, I've seen AR's and AK's come back down in price.

AK sporter for $699 new, DPMS AR15 for $750, and Smith M&P15Sport for $840. Ammo is slowly coming back down in price but is still tight and not available locally.